CARCHARDAI - an immersive VR sound installation
CARCHARDAI is a unique and original creative response for an Arts Council of Wales ‘research and development’ project investigating the use of Cymraeg, and the interior sound worlds of Parc Prison in Bridgend.
The conversations, sound recordings and photographic work we have captured form the elements of this immersive soundscape and ‘Virtual Reality’ outcome. It is inspired, in part, by the Carceci D’invenzione (Imaginary Prisons) etchings of the artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and a collaboration with Supercharger blown-collective.
It is both a fascinating and forbidding environment, and my research has led to a discovery of how Cymraeg’s relationship with ‘crime and punishment’ has changed over theCenturies; from the violence of the mock courts and ritual humiliations of Y Ceffyl Pren, to the realities of the present day.
I am also investigating how sound is used, and experienced within prisons more generally, and the effect this has as a means of control, and how this has an effect on the everyday existence of those ‘inside’.
“It was fantastic to experience an interactive VR installation that had such a strong artistic focus on sound. The 360 audio was immersive and allowed for an intriguing and innovative assembly of sound and meaning.”
“Very thought provoking about prison experience and the juxtapositioning of the ceffyl pren i.e. old community form of punishment in contrast to contemporary prison cell form of punishment. Also made made me reflect on permitted use of Welsh which is variable in prisons. Also the large image of a di-fib machine was a reminder of the different sounds/voices
there could be prisoner fatalities. Also when I was mentally deciding when to leave the session that was a huge reminder of how having no choice in that matter must feel. Really great musical sound track as well. A piece with a lot of potential uses educationally as well as culturally.”
